10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin

10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity Reviews

• 
  Becky

  First sentence: When I was a kid, I wanted to be a poet. But my first book wasn’t a gathering of poems. It was a gathering of ideas from some of the world’s brainiest people.
  
  Rebecca McLaughlin presents ten questions--and her answers to those ten questions--in a book written to appeal to young adults (teens). The ten questions are as follows:
  How Can I Live My Best Life Now?
  Isn't Christianity Against Diversity?
  Can Jesus Be True for You But Not True for Me?
  Can't We Just Be Good Without God?
  How Can You Believe the Bible is True?
  Hasn't Science Disproved Christianity?
  Why Can't We Just Agree That Love is Love?
  Who Cares If You're a Boy or a Girl?
  Does God Care When We Hurt?
  How Can You Believe in Heaven and Hell?
  In her answers she touches on dozens of hot topics. There's not many--if any--hot topics she doesn't touch on.
  
  For better or worse, McLaughlin's narrative is saturated--yes, drenched--in references from almost everything but the Bible. Okay. That's not really fair. I think if you look at the proportion of Harry Potter references to Scripture references, Harry Potter would win. If you look at the proportion of Disney references (Moana, Frozen, Aladdin, etc) to Scripture references, Disney would win. To be fair, it isn't that the book is void of Scripture references, it's just that she's way more likely to refer back to Harry Potter, a movie, a television show (The Good Place, for example), a song than the Bible itself. If she's not referring to something in pop culture, she's sure to have an experience to share from her own life or the life of a friend.
  
  I'm left with a couple of questions. Is the lack of actual Bible purposeful? Did she decide, HEY, I want to reach a wide audience of teens and the best way to engage and interact with teenagers is by talking their pop culture language. If I speak mostly in terms of Harry Potter and Frozen, am I going to reach more people? IN other words, I don't want to share Scriptures with them, talk doctrine, creeds, or theology. I want to keep them interested after all. Or was this an oversight on her part? Is she more familiar with pop culture--her natural heart language--than the Bible? Is she merely writing what she knows? When she's thinking deep spiritual thoughts, is she actually relating more with Disney characters and Harry Potter than to the Word of God? Is she making sense of theological concepts like love, sacrifice, hope, etc. by connecting them to Disney and Harry Potter?
  
  It isn't even so much that I disagree with her conclusions--at the end of the day--to most of these questions. It's just some things felt a tiny bit off. More like a clock running two or three minutes fast or late. It isn't off enough to make you late for work.
  
  The one question that felt perhaps more weird to me than the others was the first one: How Can I Live My Best Life Now? Because this isn't necessarily a question the Bible prompts us to ask. I think historically the church would have looked askance at this question. What is this "best life now" of which you speak? Christianity is NOT about helping anyone live their best life...now. It isn't about mental benefits NOW or physical benefits NOW or emotional benefits NOW. And, yes, the author very much stays in the here and now of answering this question. Citing statistics. People who attend church once a week are fill-in-the-blank more likely to fill-in-the-blank. She might as well be talking about the benefits of flossing your teeth or drinking water. If someone is actually questioning whether or not the Christian life is for them...or not...looking at statistics of church attendance is far off the mark.
  
  Not any of the questions in this book really deal with the gospel or salvation. No "How Can I Be Made Right with God?" No "If I Were To Die Tonight Can I Be Sure I Would Go To Heaven?" No "Why Did Jesus Have To Die?"
  
  These ten questions may be common questions. And maybe these ten questions are for the author her most personal questions. On her journey to the faith, these questions may have been the absolute top ten questions she had, the top ten questions she searched out and explored.
  
  I am not the target audience, obviously. And I'm not a great judge to if this would appeal to actual teens or actual tweens. I've read other reviews that pointed out the book's references would make more sense for the younger crowd (9-12) than the older crowd. But the chapters on sex and gender--particularly the attention to same sex attraction, transgender, non-binary, etc.--seems more appropriate for the older crowd.
• 
  Daniel Warne

  Youth Pastor Review:
  
  This book is a tough one - parts of it are excellent! Chapters 8 & 9 in particular are very well written and full of solid, Biblical truth with an evident Gospel heartbeat. But many of the chapters don't seem to give clear answers to the questions they ask - and ultimately, I feel like this book gives into two of the worst tendencies of modern youth outreach: dumbing things down too much and overusing pop culture references.
  
  To address the first: this book really doesn't feel like it was written at a teenage level. This book is (self-admittedly) a re-working of a book aimed at adults for a teenage audience - and I believe overcompensates in this regard. The answers given are sometimes oversimplified to the point of not giving the full answer that Scripture gives to the questions asked. The answers are also often segmented into a path that doesn't really seem to lead to a clear answer. The writing and depth of thought present likely line up more with preteens (or maybe younger teens), but not highschoolers. The pop culture references (which I'll mention in a moment) are all kids' references - and rarely teenage ones. In some ways, this does makes sense - the author mentioned that she wrote this with her 10 year old daughter (at the time of writing if I remember correctly) in mind. That feels right to me and so entitling it "10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask..." ends up being slightly misleading as to the content level of the answers given.
  
  Secondly: One of the worst tendencies of modern youth outreach/ministry is the feeling that if we don't entertain young people, we won't reach young people. So much youth ministry has become focused on being relevant or entertaining or making Christianity cool because if we don't, teens won't like it! That's not true. And in this book, McLaughlin stuffs every Harry Potter, Disney, and Taylor Swift reference she can into the chapters. Some of the points of these references connected well (I'm not against a poignant, relevant illustration!) but too many of them felt forced in and only present because the author (or publisher or whoever) was worried that if each page didn't have a flashy reference (half of which will be entirely irrelevant in a year or two) then they would lose their audience. Is the Gospel not captivating enough on its own? Does it need our help to bring in young people? The Gospel message is timeless. The true answers to the questions presented in this book are timeless and wonderful and captivating and compelling all on their own! But wrapping them up in so many timely references distracts away from the true goal of this book and limits its impact to just the next few years (if that) much more than it draws-in readers to the message and increases impact in the long run.
  
  All told, this is not a bad book! I don't think anyone reading this book would be led astray and some very well could be greatly helped by this work! I just feel it's not particularly well-executed. The answers are solid, but sometimes frustratingly muddled and meandering and obscured and over-simplified to the point of not saying much. And it seems that it has misread what teenagers asking these questions need - they don't need pop culture touchstones to understand God's truth, they just need the solid, perfect, incomparable, life-changing, wonderful truth of God.
  
  I really wanted to love this book and be able to incorporate it into my ministry, but unfortunately I feel as though I would only recommend others using this with junior teens or preteens (maybe).
• 
  Emily M

  Short review: our youth director handed these out to all the parents this summer, saying this was hands down the best apologetics book for teens he has read. After reading the first two chapters, I pulled my kids from his apologetics and discipleship group and have my son studying koine Greek with one our elders and reading Augustine's Confessions with my husband, instead.
  
  Longer review: Well, this isn't your teen's mom's Evangelical youth apologetics book. Dr. McLaughlin talks about being sexually attracted to women (though she's married to a man), assumes the Big Bang (she's a member of Biologos), proudly proclaims herself a feminist (claiming feminism comes from Christianity), and quotes endless examples from Disney movies and Harry Potter (much more than from the Bible). One certainly can't imagine this book being published (and promoted by the Gospel Coalition!) in the 90's, so this probably is an excellent case study in how far American Evangelicalism has changed in the past quarter century. How much you feel this shift has been positive will probably be a good predictor of whether you find this book worthwhile.
  
  While the scriptural content, such as it is, is generally in line with orthodox theology, the assumption is that the audience will have been catechized by secular culture. She seems to put the apologize in apologetics, feeling that Christian positions on issues like marriage, sex, abortion, and sexual identity are things that we need to defend against popular opinion, not standards that we affirm and against which we examine secular positions. To put it another way, she's assuming that parents haven't been raising their children with a love of Biblical truth, but that once they're teens and tweens, we are suddenly playing catch-up defense after realizing the other team has scored three touchdowns. Parents who steep their children in scripture from birth, engage in family worship and Bible study, talk about the worldview of the films they watch, the music the listen to, and the books they read, and discuss current events around the dinner table, will probably find this book a large step back from their general family discipleship.
• 
  Andrea

  The good: The author tackles an enormous amount of information is a very short book. She speaks in a voice and with cultural references that will attract young teens. She correctly points to Jesus as the only way, the Truth and the Life. She correctly notes we should not let emotions and desires determine our actions or identities but Christ alone.
  The bad (in the order they are found):
  1. the author, a married woman, repeatedly refers to being attracted to women in multiple chapters. As a married woman myself, I’m not sure that giving so much space and thought to “attraction” outside of marriage is healthy, especially in a book targeted to teens. She also fails to define attraction which could be misleading to young readers. A Biblical evaluation of holy vs sinful attraction should be discussed if the topic is going to be opened.
  2. The first chapter focuses on how “religious” people are statistically happier and healthier. While interesting, Christianity is not a means to be happy and healthy. That is the heresy of the prosperity gospel. Starting with this topic and including other religions as also beneficial sends the wrong message. Also, she uses many strange lines such as “But going to church once a week or more is almost as good for you as stopping smoking!”
  3. Another strange sentence: “If we listen to both the Bible and researchers…going to church weekly is a bit like taking gillyweed for life.” I don't mind the Harry Potter references, though I feel they are overused, but the line "the Bible and x" always raises flags. In this case, it is just odd.
  4. She talks about slavery in America but never about the history of slavery worldwide or where the African slave trade originated. This would leave the uneducated reader thinking slavery was solely an America evil. She also uses the term race repeatedly but never talks about how we are one race, all descended from Adam.
  5. She tells the reader it is usually best to have a relationship with a person before telling them about Jesus. This minimizes evangelism and mission work and belittles how the church has most often grown throughout history.
  6. She talks a lot about "smart people" she knows. She repeatedly uses the fallacy appeal to authority when talking about scientists. She describes atheist friends as being "really smart" but she doesn't define smart.
  7. For apologetics, she mentions how we have many copies of the scriptures. Statistics at this point on how many copies we have vs Gaelic Wars, Illiad, etc would have been powerful information.
  8. Another weird sentence: “Believing the Bible isn’t just for stupid people”
  9. She addresses evolution but never mentions young earth creation. In talking about literal reading of the Bible, she says it’s difficult and Christians disagree on what is metaphor and what is true. She seems to assume the Big Bang theory, which has multiple issues (I can give resources)
  10. She says, “He (Isaac Newton) was not fully Christian because he didn’t believe that Jesus was fully God” but doesn’t give any other details. Isaac Newton did not believe in the trinity but believed Jesus was the Messiah. But what does "fully Christian" mean?
  11. She seems to admire Dr. Collins’s coronavirus vaccine research. I’m not familiar with his research but object to vaccines that use aborted fetal tissue but that's my soap box. I realize she is just trying to name many Christian scientists. (Nancy Pearcey's Soul of Science would be a great resource for more info)
  12. She says scientists have a theory to explain how more complex life forms developed from simpler ones. Scientists really do not have a working theory for this. Information in DNA is always lost or corrupted by mutations, never gained.
  13. She talks about falling in love with a girl. I think defining falling in love here is necessary as well as a biblical view of it.
  14. Using a single survey, she seems to believe that the percentage of people who only have same sex attraction cannot be happily married to the opposite sex. Quote: “I’m not in the 1 percent of women who can only be attracted to other women. So I’m able to be happily married to a man…” that seems to assume God cannot change a person's affections and that we are bound by “attraction.” She seems to siding with the "born that way" idea.
  15. Quote “…all of us will likely sometimes be attracted to people we’re not married to.” I’m only one person but this is not my experience in 18 years of marriage. The idea that this is normal and expected can be very damaging to teens. It is why, in marriage, a woman does not form close friendships with men and vice versa. We guard and protect marriage to keep it holy.
  16. She uses a lot of Harry Potter references but also cites a tv show The Good Place which isn’t appropriate for kids IMO. Why use references that should not be understood by your readers.
  17. Quote “…hell is when God fights with us “. I can’t think of any scripture where hell is God fighting with us.
  
  In conclusion, despite some good apologetics topics, what she addresses and her conclusions do not sit well with me. The idea that one book for kids can answer all these questions would be wonderful, but this not the book for our family. For young teens I highly recommend Cold Case Christianity for Kids or Case for Christ for Kids or God's Crime Scene for Kids. I love You’re Not Enough and That’s Okay by Allie Stuckey for identity in Christ discussions. For older teens, they are ready to handle more than Disney and Harry Potter examples. I love Mere Christianity, Understanding the Times by Summit, Total Truth or Love They Body by Pearcey, etc. One of my favorite books that is accessible to both young and old is Greg Kokl's The Story of Reality.
• 
  Jamie Erickson

  4 1/2 stars
• 
  Missy

  Loved how she helps students understand concepts with references to Harry Potter! Easy read but enjoyable and clear.
• 
  Jon

  A must-have resource for teens, parents of teens, or disciplers of teens to help grapple with some of culture's most challenging and fundamental questions of Christianity. Written as a caring mother to her daughter with thoughtful, gentle language, McLaughlin upholds biblical doctrine while dispelling several myths about Christianity. Be sure to check out her more fleshed-out book called Confronting Christianity for adults or people who want more depth and sources cited.
  
  A note on the 5 stars: I rate things based on their genre and intended audience. I have found few better resources that directly equip teens (and parents) to address the current cultural issues with such eloquence and care. In my opinion, this book serves as a fantastic launching-point for further discussion and study, while starting teens and parents off on the right track.
• 
  Cbarrett

  Really fun book to go through with 16 year old son. Looking forward to reading and discussing with 13 yr old daughter in the new year. Readable, relatable, and thought-provoking.
• 
  Jules

  A lovely book but, as it says, addressed to (younger) teenagers. If someone gave me this book 3 years ago, it surely would have helped me a lot to answer certain questions and to take a stand as a young christian in today's society. McLaughlin has a beautiful way to explain complex issues with simple words. I would and will surely recommend this book to younger teenagers, but it's not worth reading if you're already more into apologetics or theology in general.
• 
  Brad Hough

  4.0 // This is a wonderful resource for teens who are wrestling with any of the questions that Rebecca McLaughlin addresses here. She covers a wide range of topics—race, believability of Scripture, gender, and suffering, among several others—and does so in a compassionate, biblical way without talking down to teenagers. The book doesn’t necessarily seek to address and answer every possible question, and older teens might may see this as more of a springboard for further research. Two things knocked down my rating. First, there were certain sections I wish McLaughlin had expounded on a bit more (a discussion of justice in the chapter about Heaven and Hell could have been helpful and appropriate, for example), and one or two places that would have benefited from a slower pace, which would have allowed for a more empathetic tone. Secondly, the first chapter felt oversimplified in a way that could actually be harmful unless a teenager has someone wise in their life to talk through it with. It could come across that a believer’s life is devoid of trouble and difficulty, when Jesus tells his followers just the opposite (John 16:33). Overall, though, I think she accomplishes what she sets out to do: invite teens to ask hard questions, and provide some helpful, biblical answers.
• 
  Jarrid Hawkins

  I appreciate the work McLaughlin does in this book. I think she wrote an accessible look at the difficult questions many teenagers are asking about Christianity. I think she wrote in such a way to hold the attention of teenagers surrounded by a radically different and rapidly changing world. She writes with joy, passion, and integrity, and I am better off having read her book.
  
  This book is helpful for most teenagers or adults responsible for them who would like a general overview of some popular objections to the Christian faith. It could be a helpful tool at the beginning of a conversation between Christian middle school and high school students and their non-Christian friends. Every popular cultural argument has Christians, or people claiming Christ as Lord and Savior, on each side. I think McLaughlin does a good job of presenting facts, questions, and observations that would benefit us all to think over.
  
  I consider this book like a great conversation with intelligent friends on things to consider when people ask difficult questions. This book is not (and does not claim to be) an exhaustive look at any of these problems, and it is not a systematic theology on specific doctrines concerning these particular issues. It is also not, by any means, the end of the conversation.
• 
  Derek Davidson

  This is a brilliant book written for teenage Christians. Accessible and deep, it is a great book for any young Christian. This is both for Christians struggling to believe their faith and for those who are solid in what they believe, but could use more knowledge on how to communicate their faith to others.
  
  The one place of disagreement I have with her is what she communicates as essential vs non-essential. She communicates views on Creation on a spectrum of what Christians can believe, yet communicates about gender roles in marriage and church without that same nuance. I both disagree with this and think it can be unhelpful to not help students understand better where Christians can have different views.
• 
  Elizabeth Denton

  This book, though written for teens, helps even adults understand some of the things McLaughlin discusses in her book Confronting Christianity a little easier. Helpful for having discussions with friends and teens.
• 
  Jonathan Roberts

  First off I love Rebecca McLaughlin, I have listened to her teach, speak on podcasts and read most of her books. She is very capable in all those roles and a blessing to read! Second I helped teach this book’s topics to our youth group this summer. It was amazing! Tough topics but very fruitful! Highly recommended
• 
  Ashley

  There were many super interesting and informative points that definitely made me think, but I did wish that some of the pop culture references were less significant. Overall a great book, just maybe not for my age range. Seems more for 13-11 year olds.
• 
  Eliza Bordea

  While I may not agree with her every statement, I still find this book a useful guide in navigating some really important questions.
• 
  Peter Krol

  Not flawless, but fantastic. A delightful read, with compelling answers to some very important questions for teens. Both my teenagers and I really enjoyed reading this out loud together.
• 
  Sydney Bailey

  This book was amazing! It explains the concepts so clearly and is very helpful for anyone who is struggling with how Christians should view the world’s beliefs today.
• 
  Charlotte Galbraith

  This was a hugely helpful book to explore what the Bible says about these topics. I read this book with a teenager and it was just as encouraging for me as it was for her. Everyone should read this book as it has helped me to consider how confidently I feel to speak about these areas of my faith.
• 
  True Francis

  I appreciated parts of this book and I'm glad I read it. I think it would be good for me to read Confronting Christianity as well. I wasnt sure how to word this - but I did struggle with how the author glossed over some criticisms of the church.
  
  Particularly, in response to questions about treatment of women, racism, etc, in the church, McLaughlin claims that Christianity actually promotes diversity and uplifts women. She does this by drawing on what Christianity inherently teaches, or from examples from Jesus's time to mediaeval history.
  
  I think this is good and helpful, especially going back to what the Bible teaches. However, she skips over what has actually been the case in the modern church. The reality is that many women and people of colour *have* been hurt by the church in the last several decades+ (and this is where people doubt Christianity's relationship with diversity and feminism!). So I think it would have been more helpful and practical to address these real and present areas of hurt that actually prompt the questions she's trying to answer, instead of brushing it off with:
  
  
  "Some of my friends think Christianity has pushed women down. But Christianity actually lifted women up."
• 
  Caitlin

  This is an awesome resource for people looking for answers to tough questions. Growing up with a christian faith can be hard to understand and hard to stand up for when you don't understand integral pieces of you faith, and why you believe the things you do. This book is an excellent read for people (namely younger people) looking to find answers to their tough questions, and ready to make their faith their own, a faith of conviction and not tradition. I think this book equips kids to be able to go out into the world and be asked questions about their beliefs, or about their relationship with God, and have real answers and evidence to support their thoughts. Otherwise, it's an excellent tool to BUILD those beliefs or challenge the ones they have.
  
  I was warned in the preface that this book was for those not yet ready to drive a car, but ready to begin getting behind the wheel of their faith and get answers to tough questions. That is an excellent gauge for who should read the book. While it does answer big questions in simplified and understandable ways, it also left me thirsty for more, I want to know all about the scientific studies and all of the little details that lead to these conclusions. Luckily McLaughlin has written another book intended to quench that thirst. "Confronting Christianity" is a book I look forward to reading as I hope to explore what is talked about here (thoughts and ideas that most believers have probably already explored to some degree) in greater depth, with a finer toothed comb.
  
  I will say, not every idea shared in the book was something that I agree with. But I also appreciate that the goal of the book was not to give all of the answers or declare that we really know everything about the world, but instead to have kids start thinking critically about the thoughts being shared with them and the thoughts they are developing themselves. And all of the movie references were an added bonus!
• 
  Rodrigo Gomez

  I’ve read other reviews about this book regarding the lack of deep thought or that it includes too many “secular” references.
  
  I do agree that some comparisons are taken too far but I came to understand the intention of the author: she wants teens to actually read it and by doing so, they start asking more questions which ultimately will lead them to Jesus.
  
  I think there are not many books aimed to this audience and I thank God for this provision. There are urgent topics to address, for both Christians and non-Christians.
  
  The Disney and Harry Potter references are not just useful, but relatable; the author is talking their same language without compromising truth.
  
  I can be sure that this book will awaken our youth to ask and answer the hardest questions of our time (even for adults). Im happy it will be soon available in Spanish.
  
  PS. Don’t expect it to be a Biblical comentary or a thorough study (there are tons of books for each topic).
• 
  Julie Reynolds

  Oh boy. What to write to review this book. It’s pitched as a teen book, but most teenagers have finished Harry Potter and so the Harry Potter analogies wouldn’t work. I also am in two minds as to whether Harry Potter should be read by Christians.
  
  Also the author obviously uses scripture references which is fine, but not every teen will know which books are in the OT/NT let alone chapters and verses. So although it’s pitched to Christian and non Christian teens, I would think that non Christian teens wouldn’t bother reading the scripture passages as the concept would be alien.
  
  
  Anyway, I was going to get my non Christian child to read the book, but probably will pass and find other material.
• 
  Jessica

  Thank you McLaughlin for hitting the hot button topics while giving the same or more attention to the questions of life that get sinners to open their eyes to the basics of the reasonableness and necessity of Christianity. Rebecca is next level smart as she is able to bring lofty things down in simplicity and clarity without dropping nuggets of truth to explain theological things to young but able listeners. I appreciate the real life examples paired with popular novel excerpts to aid clarification of what she does and does not mean.
  
  Though I am quite fond of all the Harry Potter references she relies heavy on them. If a student doesn’t know the series well the book might seem less clear, but McLaughlin does explain those examples well so that the average muggle can still understand these things.
• 
  Lindsey D'alessandro

  I teach middle school Bible and am always looking for solid apologetics resources to use with my students. After reading this book, I will definitely be integrating it into my curriculum. It can be challenging to find resources that are solid, while being accessible to younger teens. This book tackles challenging topics with accessibility and compassion. With any book on apologetics, this is not a book that will answer every question about Christianity, but is an excellent jumping off point for important conversations and further study. Highly recommend!
• 
  Brandi Breezee

  Loved Confronting Christianity so I knew I would love this just as much. Even though this book says it’s for 12-15 yr olds, I think it’s definitely more for 15+ as it tackles mature topics. Aiden is currently reading it, but Gavin won’t be for at least a few more years. Highly recommend parents read it prior to their teens, but once they are ready, I highly recommend it for teens (if that makes sense).